Every business, big or small, has the goals related to its sales at the top of its list of priorities. It finds and looks for ways as well as strategies, to increase its revenue stream. While marketing and sales have always been connected or believed to be linked, it is important to be aware of what kind of marketing strategies will actually make the sales increase. If you undergo a strategic management course it will share these insights.

Let us get an understanding of what kind of marketing strategies actually work on that front.

1. Consumer segmentation – One of the biggest strategies in marketing involves segmenting consumers into categories and then aligning efforts as well as investments based on those. The target set of consumers are the ones who are most likely to buy the product or service. So defining the categories and using specific marketing techniques to those categories, will help increase sales. For example, if the categories are defined by demographics, the younger consumers will prefer to read about the product or service through digital platforms, whereas the older ones through a television advertisement.
2. SWOT analysis – A well-defined SWOT ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of your consumer segment or even your marketing initiative will result in increased sales. This will help you be more aware of what kind of elements to use more, and how to address the threats. You need to be able to apply SWOT to your competitor’s marketing approach too since that is also part of how you define and apply your own strategy.
3. Customer Relationship Management – Your repeat customers are the ones who will drive and stabilize your sales. Those who order regularly or come back to you for the product/service are the ones who raise the revenues. So customer relationship management, for those who are existing clients is very important. As a marketing strategy, your approach should always cover this segment in a comprehensive manner. They should receive the first set of communication with any new launches or offers. There should be a special privilege associated with being a loyal customer, so market those privileges to them.
4. Public Relations – While PR is different from marketing, it has to be used in conjunction with marketing for overall impact. So use PR to raise awareness about your brand and how its values, as well as benefits, are aligned to the consumer. Marketing content should be designed to cover all platforms such as newspapers, radio stations, websites and blogs.

These are a few simple but impactful ways to link marketing strategies to overall sales. Well-linked marketing and sales approaches work extremely well.